Monica Chin

rest in publicity

On the day of my eighth-grade graduation, I learned just how popular people get after they die. As we lined up in height order to process into the gymnasium, I felt a shudder behind me, and by the time I turned around, one of my classmates was well into her second sob. “He died,” she…

Everybody here wanted something more Searching for a sound they haven’t heard before Welcome to New York It’s been waiting for you. – Taylor Swift, “Welcome to New York” The man who owns the oldest record store in Greenwich Village will tell you he doesn’t want to talk to you. Believe him. Psychics never…

“perfect memory” and a train ride

It’s 1:30 a.m., and I’m on an Amtrak, trundling through a generic Westchester suburb. There are houses lined up alongside each other that look exactly identical, against a backdrop of tall, shabby apartment buildings with cages in front of their windows. In the distance is the skyline of New York City on a Saturday night,…

on small towns

The first thing you notice when you’re entering the rural, heavily agrarian, and chilly tri-state area of Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts, is that the buildings are all old. Some of them are indeterminately abandoned, sporting chipping paint, dangling shingles, and boarded windows, while others have been refurbished to a synthetic colonial splendor. As you…

on various loves

twenty He’s a friend, and nothing more. We cohabitate a shabby dorm room. We eat greasy Chinese takeout and watch television until 3 or 4 a.m., when we get ready for bed while goading each other for not having done any homework. In the morning, we insult each other from across the room until one…